1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to apparatuses and methods for manufacturing a printed circuit board. More particularly, the present invention relates to a roll-to-roll substrate transfer apparatus, a wet etching apparatus including the roll-to-roll substrate transfer apparatus, and an apparatus for manufacturing a printed circuit board including the roll-to-roll substrate transfer apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electronic apparatuses known in the art require a plurality of components. Compact electronic components are typically mounted on a printed circuit board comprising a conductive layer formed on a substrate formed of an insulating material. A circuit pattern is formed on or from the conductive layer. The printed circuit board includes a base substrate on which an inner layer circuit is formed, an interlayer insulating layer, an outer layer circuit layer, a resist layer, or the like.
A variety of processes such as etching, plating, exposure, and drilling are performed during the process of fabricating a circuit board. A dip rack method is often used as the etching or plating process. According to the dip rack method, a single panel-shaped substrate is dipped in a solution to plate the substrate and/or etch the conductive layer. However, the productivity and stability of the substrate are too low when using the dip rack method since one substrate is handled at a time. Another method known in the art is a conveyor method in which discrete substrates are placed on a conveyor system and transferred. However, the productivity of the substrate is also low, even if the stability of the substrate is higher than that when using the dip rack method.
Recently, a roll-to-roll transfer apparatus capable of continuously transferring substrates has been used in order to improve productivity. However, the use of the roll-to-roll transfer apparatus is limited since the thin film substrate may be damaged by overload (e.g., caused by over-tensioning or quick changes in transferring speed) during the transfer of the substrate.